Description
Caspase-7 (CMH-1, Mch3, ICE-LAP3) has been identified as a major contributor to the execution of apoptosis (1-4). Caspase-7, like caspase-3, is an effector caspase that is responsible for cleaving downstream substrates such as (ADP-ribose) polymerase and PARP (1, 3). During apoptosis, caspase-7 is activated through proteolyticprocesssing by upstream caspases at Asp23, Asp198, and Asp206 to produce the mature subunits (1, 3). Similar to caspases-2 and-3, caspase-7 preferentially cleaves substrates following the recognition sequence DEVD (5)